Quick Public Service Announcement - I now buy my tickets from the train operator direct. Trainline can be very useful for navigating through complex itineraries, but for a simple trip the operator will be cheaper!
Thanks Matt! Love travelling by train when possible and last year I treated my 9 year-old daughter to a ride on the GWR “Night Riviera” sleeper from Penzance to Paddington: a glorious experience despite the reduced catering!
As a member of railway staff, I beg you and anyone reading this, please stop using Trainline. They're notorious for selling tickets for trains which do not exist, selling discounted tickets that customers aren't entitled to, have terrible after sales and charge a booking fee. The absolute best way to book a ticket for any rail service, is to book direct with the Train Operating Company. Interesting to learn that Stratford Intl has never had such traffic! I wonder why it got it's name if it never had, or never had the capability to offer such services? Another excellently presented and informative video :)
Thanks - I enjoyed making this video but it hasn't been that popular so thanks for digging it out! Based on comments I got when it first launched, I have stopped using Trainline and now buy direct... I had it in my mind that there was a price benefit to Trainline but if there was one, it was a long time ago and buying direct is now cheaper... I think they did run trains to Stratford during the Olympics with temporary passport facilities and the name stuck...
Great trip report although I'm surprised you aren't complaining about the abysmal state of rail in the UK. When I was studying in the UK I would take a number of trains to get places across the UK. And regardless of which carrier I chose (LNER, Grand Central, etc.) or when I travelled, there were a couple certainties: the trains would be late, the toilets would not be working properly (with the loos clogged with nappies and urine often on the wall), the trains were filthy and food service left much to be desired. It is one of the few train services which made Via Rail Canada look good.
Thanks for the comment. I don't know whether SouthEastern is the exception or whether the routes are so short and simple in this corner of England that they have a natural advantage when it comes to operating efficiently, but I've not recently had much to complain about when travelling with them. This journey had the dodgy door but by bypassing the other stops we were only about 5 or 8 minutes late into St Pancras. If people enjoy this video I may be tempted to venture onto the trains more often which might give me a wider sample that confirms your (and others!) opinions.
Hi Matt I enjoyed the video, I am from Maidstone originally so I've been on HS1 many times. Interesting what you said about Trainline. The fares available for train tickets should be identical on every website (either direct from the TOC like Southeastern's website or from a third party like trainline). The only differences are down to if there is a specific offer going on for that TOC (for example LNER offers £5 off your first LNER train journey when booking through their website only), and booking fees (I see you were charged 90p "service fee" by Trainline, which you would have not been charged if booking through any TOC's website). I'm not sure why you were given a cheaper fare on trainline, but I think if you looked at other dates in the future for this route and compared between Southeastern's website (or that of any TOC such as Greater Anglia, Southern, LNER) and Trainline you should find that the fares are the same. The fares themselves are set by the TOC and can be found on BRFares.com. Trainline themselves do not set the price of train tickets. Trainline became so popular because they were really the only company to heavily market their website with claims that you can save lots of money when booking through them - the truth is that the savings are simply from booking an Advance ticket rather than a flexible Anytime/Off-Peak one, but these advance tickets could be bought from any TOC's website without any booking fees. Arguably their website & app is more user friendly than some of the TOCs', and booking fees only go up to a maximum of £1.50 per booking, but this could add up if you are booking lots of journeys with them. I admit that the whole system of booking train tickets in this country can be confusing and frustrating. With the government's new "Great British Railways" plans it may get simpler, with perhaps a single website for booking tickets instead of every TOCs website, but I think they will still allow companies like trainline to operate as they make huge profits off the booking fees.
Thanks Bertie. That inspires me even more to take a closer look! I was a shade pressed for time when I made the booking so I didn't study everything as closely as I might normally. I think the issue may have had something to do with the disabled railcard. Trainline was under £20 (with the railcard added - as you could see) - I believed I'd added the railcard to the other booking sites but they came consistently to over £30, which is a difference greater than a 33% discount the card should give. I'll count this as a vote for a dedicated video on booking train tickets!
Morning 😎 I love traveling by train. It has got so expensive though. My favorite is Virgin trains. Love THAT CUP of Tea on the trains. 👍 Thank you. Loved seeing this. Any plans for London to Scotland?
Morning! Trains are a bit cheaper with the disabled discount card... A trip to Scotland's not a bad shout. Think the Scots are letting us English in these days!
It's called "See You On The Otherside" from the RUclips Audio library. Always thought it was an appropriate name for a song over the outro... All my music comes from the audio library, which is free to use. Thanks
Quick Public Service Announcement - I now buy my tickets from the train operator direct. Trainline can be very useful for navigating through complex itineraries, but for a simple trip the operator will be cheaper!
Southeastern: haha, look how much we can charge for an annual ticket… and the mugs still buy them!
GWR: hold my beer….
Brilliant! Commuting is a pretty daft concept...
Thanks Matt! Love travelling by train when possible and last year I treated my 9 year-old daughter to a ride on the GWR “Night Riviera” sleeper from Penzance to Paddington: a glorious experience despite the reduced catering!
Done a few sleeper trains but never in the UK - a very different experience in India!
As a member of railway staff, I beg you and anyone reading this, please stop using Trainline. They're notorious for selling tickets for trains which do not exist, selling discounted tickets that customers aren't entitled to, have terrible after sales and charge a booking fee. The absolute best way to book a ticket for any rail service, is to book direct with the Train Operating Company.
Interesting to learn that Stratford Intl has never had such traffic! I wonder why it got it's name if it never had, or never had the capability to offer such services?
Another excellently presented and informative video :)
Thanks - I enjoyed making this video but it hasn't been that popular so thanks for digging it out! Based on comments I got when it first launched, I have stopped using Trainline and now buy direct... I had it in my mind that there was a price benefit to Trainline but if there was one, it was a long time ago and buying direct is now cheaper... I think they did run trains to Stratford during the Olympics with temporary passport facilities and the name stuck...
Great trip report although I'm surprised you aren't complaining about the abysmal state of rail in the UK. When I was studying in the UK I would take a number of trains to get places across the UK. And regardless of which carrier I chose (LNER, Grand Central, etc.) or when I travelled, there were a couple certainties: the trains would be late, the toilets would not be working properly (with the loos clogged with nappies and urine often on the wall), the trains were filthy and food service left much to be desired. It is one of the few train services which made Via Rail Canada look good.
Thanks for the comment. I don't know whether SouthEastern is the exception or whether the routes are so short and simple in this corner of England that they have a natural advantage when it comes to operating efficiently, but I've not recently had much to complain about when travelling with them. This journey had the dodgy door but by bypassing the other stops we were only about 5 or 8 minutes late into St Pancras. If people enjoy this video I may be tempted to venture onto the trains more often which might give me a wider sample that confirms your (and others!) opinions.
Great video Matt, really interesting to see train services globally!
Thanks. Not a bad train - plenty in the UK aren't so nice. Or fast...
Thanks for another informative video Matt! As a family we have been inter railing so know that track from Eurostar, so that was fun to see!
Some would say passing through Folkestone at 100mph+ on a train is the best way!
Thanks Matt 👍
You're very welcome!
That was a different video today Matt, but suited me great as we have travelled extensively by train in USA, Australia and Europe
Thanks Peter. This was the sort of video I thought I'd be making before we all got locked up!
Hi Matt I enjoyed the video, I am from Maidstone originally so I've been on HS1 many times. Interesting what you said about Trainline. The fares available for train tickets should be identical on every website (either direct from the TOC like Southeastern's website or from a third party like trainline). The only differences are down to if there is a specific offer going on for that TOC (for example LNER offers £5 off your first LNER train journey when booking through their website only), and booking fees (I see you were charged 90p "service fee" by Trainline, which you would have not been charged if booking through any TOC's website). I'm not sure why you were given a cheaper fare on trainline, but I think if you looked at other dates in the future for this route and compared between Southeastern's website (or that of any TOC such as Greater Anglia, Southern, LNER) and Trainline you should find that the fares are the same. The fares themselves are set by the TOC and can be found on BRFares.com. Trainline themselves do not set the price of train tickets.
Trainline became so popular because they were really the only company to heavily market their website with claims that you can save lots of money when booking through them - the truth is that the savings are simply from booking an Advance ticket rather than a flexible Anytime/Off-Peak one, but these advance tickets could be bought from any TOC's website without any booking fees. Arguably their website & app is more user friendly than some of the TOCs', and booking fees only go up to a maximum of £1.50 per booking, but this could add up if you are booking lots of journeys with them.
I admit that the whole system of booking train tickets in this country can be confusing and frustrating. With the government's new "Great British Railways" plans it may get simpler, with perhaps a single website for booking tickets instead of every TOCs website, but I think they will still allow companies like trainline to operate as they make huge profits off the booking fees.
Thanks Bertie. That inspires me even more to take a closer look! I was a shade pressed for time when I made the booking so I didn't study everything as closely as I might normally. I think the issue may have had something to do with the disabled railcard. Trainline was under £20 (with the railcard added - as you could see) - I believed I'd added the railcard to the other booking sites but they came consistently to over £30, which is a difference greater than a 33% discount the card should give. I'll count this as a vote for a dedicated video on booking train tickets!
Morning 😎 I love traveling by train. It has got so expensive though. My favorite is Virgin trains. Love THAT CUP of Tea on the trains. 👍 Thank you. Loved seeing this. Any plans for London to Scotland?
Morning! Trains are a bit cheaper with the disabled discount card... A trip to Scotland's not a bad shout. Think the Scots are letting us English in these days!
@@MattsPlanet I like to go up west coast on Virgin to Edinburgh and down East Coast. Stunning scenery. Try to do on each trip home to 🇬🇧
@MattsPlanet did you ever do the London to Scotland trip?
Please tell us what that music is that you play at the end of this video and some others.
It's called "See You On The Otherside" from the RUclips Audio library. Always thought it was an appropriate name for a song over the outro... All my music comes from the audio library, which is free to use. Thanks
If you want to tell how fast you are going there is a free GPS app called motion x very good for showing speeds and a lot more
Top tip - thanks. Worried if I did that it would tell me the train was going at 80mph which would have undercut the theme of the video a tad!!!